There have been some Hall of Fame names over the course of baseball’s colorful 2000 year history. C’mon, Guru, baseball’s not that old! Whaddya mean disembodied voice of Razzball Nation that sounds slightly like my ex-girlfriend Brenda? Why do you think the Roman’s called Caligula “Little Boots?” The dude couldn’t field, booted everything. Then he married his sister Helen Mirren. Thanks, Wikipedia (and Bob Guccione). We’re not talking names like the Babe or Dizzy here, I’m talking Pickles Dillhoefer, Johnny “Ugly” Dickshot and Heinie Groh. And whatever happened to Hall of Namer Rusty Kuntz – and where can I get his throwback? One player making a name for himself these days (and making us some DraftKings cash) is Scooter Gennett. The Brewers second baseman has been rolling lately hitting .376 over the last 30 days and has more runs scored than every other second baseman not named Anthony Rendon. Sure the Scooter is no Wonderful Terrific Monds III, but he deserves a spot in the Hall of Names and more importantly a spot in this weeks edition of Jam It or Cram It.

If you’re looking for some bonus jams and crams, check out Razzball Radio where Nick “The Welsher” Capozzi and your well turbaned Guru talk jams of the week and Nick brings shame upon an entire nation.

The Gist: The Scooter is outperforming the hot rods like Dustin Pedroia, Brandon Phillips and Aaron Hill this season. In the past two weeks, he’s put up nine runs, a homer, five RBI, a steal, and hit .405 with a 1.063 OPS.

Key Stats: Is the .360 BABIP a sign the regression faeries are coming for a visit?

Jam it or Cram it: Scooter has been a great find at a thin middle infield this season. While he’s a slight Platoony Tune, manager Ron Roenicke has continued to ride the Scooter against lefties lately. Remember when we all loved Jean Segura? We were all so young…three months ago. Leave Jean parked and get on your Scooter and ride. JAM.

The Gist: I like those guys with multiple position eligibility and have made a real effort to try and maximize at-bats this season. Valbuena certainly isn’t sexy as his .230 career average can attest. But is he worse than higher owned players like Brad Miller or Mike Aviles? Valbuena is on his way to his best season, but there is a reason he’s on his third team in seven years.

Key Stats: Valbuena is currently second to only Robinson Cano in OBP among second baseman this season.

FAAB $$$ Value: $6. Depending how competitive your league is it might take a little more.

The Gist: Byrd is just not getting the love he so richly deserves. Beautiful plumage! Maybe it’s the PED suspension, maybe it’s just the general hatred spewed by you Philly fans towards anything not cheesesteak related. Byrd hit his 12th homer on Friday, has two in his last four games and is on pace to hit more than the 24 he doinked last year. It will be interesting to see if Byrd actually spends the entire year in Philly. My guess is the Byrd flies that coop come trade deadline. Hello, Boston?

Key Stats: Byrd’s flyball rate is the highest it’s been in his career. Back on the juice? Who cares, just hit bombs.

Jam it or Cram it: Prorate Byrd’s stats over 140+ games and we’re looking at close to 25 homers and 90 RBI. Once again we find the weird discrepancy between whatever fantasy site you’re playing on, but if the Byrd is loose on your wire and you’re hurting for power the Byrd is the word. JAM.

FAAB $$$ Value: $2. If you’re hurting for SAGNOF! it’ll probably take more. I just can’t bring myself to do it.

The Gist: Since coming of the DL, EYJ has a hit in six straight games despite batting ninth, yes ninth, behind the pitcher last week. Interesting bit of strategy there, New York Mets. Maybe Mr. Met can bat ninth. Either way it doesn’t seem like the best way to utilize the one great skill Young has – speed.

Key Stats: Despite missing nearly a month with a hamstring injury, Young is still top 10 in steals.

Jam it or Cram it: If you’re starved for SAGNOF! go ahead and JAM. I won’t tell anyone. However, the outfield is a little crowded with Curtis Granderson, Bobby Abreu and Juan Lagares coming back soon. What a mess, but who knows, maybe the Mets can figure out a way to bat Young tenth. CRAM.

The Gist: The Braves shipped Wood off to Triple-A Gwinnett in favor of Gavin Floyd after someone slipped a mickey into GM Frank Wren’s Mint Julep at the Kentucky Derby. Now Floyd’s elbow looks like it got caught in the thresher and Wood will get the start on Wednesday against the Astros.

Key Stats: Before getting sent down, Wood had a 63/15 K/BB ratio with 63 strikeouts in just over 60 innings.

Jam it or Cram it: The lefty Wood should be able to step right back into the Braves rotation and rack up the Ks with none of those damn inning restrictions. Wood could be a sneaky second half find if you’re hurting for a starter after this season of UCL ‘splosions. JAM.

Crazy old guy babbling in the cornersays:
June 22, 2014 at 1:03 pm (link)

Guru–need quick advice: currently winning this week in ERA and whip (3.81 to 2.67 and 1.21 to 1.13). He just tied me in wins. Avg and OBP are so close they could easily swing the other way, so every cat matters…

Sit/start MadBum and Ryu? Need the win, but any chance they melt down enough to kill ERA and WHIP?

Should I drop Polanco for Dickerson in a 10-team, H2H redraft league? I need the power upside. I can also drop hitters like Matt Adams or Hosmer or pitchers like Roark or Hammel, although I would prefer to have more bench pitchers than hitters to get the counting stats. Thanks.

@The Guru: But its a redraft! LOL. My three OF’s are Rios, McCutchen, and Pence. Of my two UTIL spots, I always start Longoria (Beltre is my starting 3B) and either Polanco, Hosmer, or Matt Adams (Goldy is my starting 1B). Like I said, I would much rather keep pitchers because I can always start them but Polanco is supposed to be the man. I need more HRs and RBIs and figured I can keep playing the hottest bat. Thoughts?

Is taijuan really worth holding in a 10 team h2h if my staff is already scherzer/lester/wacha/teheran/ryu/yordano/archer/a. wood/arrieta/walker
Uehara/cishek/allen
Or should i just go grab melancon and square my saves away?

I’ve been streaming OF’s with Cargo and Harper on the DL. I currently have Calhoun and Rajai but there are the likes of Eaton, Viciedo (i.e., J-FOH’s COW), Rasmus and Jackson on the waiver wire. What would the Guru do? Cheers and GO USA!

Was Jesse Hahn the porn girl that used to hang with Sam Kinison? Like Hahn’s stuff and his ballpark. Gausman had a nice run, but just got sent back to Triple-A. He’ll be back later. McHugh is struggling with his command. All three are streamers at best. I probably prefer Hahn because he’s in the NL, but would only use him at home. Any one of them can go boom or bust depending on matchup.

LOL @ Rusty Kuntz What did you think of Heaneys performance the other night? is he worth holding on to or maybe going with someone like Alex Wood who is a little more proven. Heaney has the 2 start week next week which looks ok against this phils but the A’s make me scurd.

@The Guru: Got him as my 2b right now after gyorko finally became droppable. La Stella, Rutledge and Scooter are all available. I’ve got plenty of counting stats, so anyone who can help me out with obp/slg and perhaps give me an sb or two is worth it for me. Seems like I’ll be playing musical chairs at 2b for the rest of the season. Thanks for the advice!

scooter doesn’t qualify at SS, at least in yahoo, land of the easy to qualify at anything fantasy site. it’s a good thing yahoo doesn’t run free disability money, since those who bite their tongues once would qualify.

Rumors are strong for the return of T.D’Arnaud starting Tuesday of this week. Easy to bail on this guy with his ML numbers so far but I’m thinking there’s not enough ABs there to write him off yet. His bat profile was just too good for me to let him sit on the waiver pile (especially in a 2 catcher league).

You think his bat will awaken enough to be one of the better #2 catchers in the 2nd half?